Protective garment for athletes



June 9, 1964 M. E. RODERICK 3,135,961

PROTECTIVE GARMENT FOR ATHLETES Filed Aug. 8, 1962 Marsha/l E RoderickINVENTOR.

His gent United States Patent 3,135,961 PROTECTIVE GARMENT FOR ATHLETESMarshall E. Roderick, P.O. Box 155, 'Iuscola, Tex. Filed Aug. 8, 1962,Ser. No. 215,606 2 Claims. (Cl. 2-2) This invention relates toimprovements in protective garments for athletes and the like, and moreparticularly to a garment for children playing games which utilize amissile such as a ball, which could strike a child, and perhaps causeserious injury.

In the playing of games which utilize a ball and bat, the personreceiving the ball or the person standing behind the bat is often unableto catch the ball or fend off the bat which could result in the playergetting hit in the chest, abdomen, or other parts of the body, whichcould recult in serious or even fatal injury.

The present invention is so designed as to absorb part of the shock andimpact force of a ball should the ball find its way through the catchingglove and hit the body or if a bat should be swung in such an are as tohit the person who is immediately behind the bat in the chest orabdomen.

Various pads have been proposed heretofore, for protection of parts ofthe body, but these, for the most part were bulky and cumbersome and didnot lend ease of movement of the athlete, as such padding did not flexand conform to the body, furthermore, the padding, for the most part,was a separate garment and usually required a hardness to hold thegarment in place, which further hampered movement of the player usingsuch a padded arrangement and increased the likelihood that such agarment would not be used.

The present invention is so constructed that it may be worn with ease,and it may be made in the form of a T- shirt which has an inside pocketor receptacle therein to receive a shock absorbing pad of sponge rubberor other elastomer sponge material, so that the elastomer spongematerial may be removed from the receptacle or pocket to enable thegarment to be washed or otherwise cleaned. Furthermore, the T-shirt orsweat shirt is a garment which is acceptable to young athletes.

An object of this invention is to provide a garment in which provisionis made to receive a sponge like shock absorber pad of elastomermaterial to impede a shock from a missile.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment having a pocketon the forward side thereof to receive a sponge elastomer shock absorbermaterial to protect the front of the body, particularly the heart-lungarea, from injury from a missile, should the player be struck thereby.

A further object of the invention is to provide, for game participants,a garment which has an open-top pocket or receptacle therein to receivea sponge elastomer shock absorber material so as to reduce injury from afast moving ball or the like which might strike the body in the regionof the heart, which could, in certain instances cause instant death.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a sponge elastomermaterial retaining pocket which has a portion of the top open and is soformed that when the sponge elastomer material is distorted and fittedinto the pocket or receptacle in a manner that it can not be accidentlydislodged, but may be easily distorted and removed.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide, for a T-shirt or thelike, a removable protective pad for the chest area, which constructionallows the garment to be washed as frequently as necessary and the padto be washed or otherwise cleaned separately and perhaps lessfrequently.

3,135,961 Patented June 9, 1964 ice A further object of the invention isto provide, in a T- shirt, a sweat shirt, or the like, means for holdinga pro tective pad in place, which shirt may be used without the pad whenthe wearer is not participating in a game, thereby reducing the amountof equipment required for players.

A still further object of the invention is to provide, particularly foryoung players, an athletic garment which may be padded for.protection ofthe chest area, but which protective pad is unobtrusive and which doesnot impede the movement of the player.

A final object of the invention is to provide protection forparticipants in a rugged game, which is easy and inexpensive to apply toa garment, yet which will protect vital areas of the body either fromthe impact of missiles, playing pieces, or from falls.

With these objects in view and others which will become manifest as thedescription proceeds, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawingin which like reference characters designate like parts in the severalviews thereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a T-shirt showing a receptacle orpocket on the inside of the front portion of the shirt and showing asponge or elastomer pad fitted therein, with parts being broken away andparts being shown in section to bring out the details of construction;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 3, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 1, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the pad of sponge elastomer materialshown apart from the garment.

With more detailed reference to the drawing, the numeral 1 designatesgenerally a shirt, such as a T-shirt, the body portion of which shirt ismade to fit the contours of the person wearing it. The front portion ofthe shirt 1 has a piece fabric 2 stitched thereonto, as indicated at 4,so as to form a pocket or receptacle 6. The sides and bottom of thepocket are closed by stitching the fabric piece 2 to the garment. Thetop 8 is necked in and is left partially open to receive an elastomersponge element, such as sponge rubber, plastic, or the like therein bydistorting.

A rectangular pattern of stitching 12 is formed on each side of thenecked in portion 8 and the elastomer sponge pad 10 is so formed as tobe complementary to the pocket or receptacle formed with the necked inportion 8. By having the rectangular portions 12 stitched inward fromthe general rectangular form of the pocket or receptacle 6, theelastomer sponge or pad or shock absorber element 10, when deformed andplaced within the receptacle or pocket 6, is retained in place evenduring the most rigorous athletic practice or play. However, theelastomer sponge pad or shock absorber element 10 may be readilydeformed and removed from the receptacle or pocket 6 when it is desiredto clean either the garment or the pad and the elastomer sponge pad orshock absorber element 10 may be replaced in the receptacle or pocket 6.

The use to which the garment is to be put will regulate the thickness ofthe elastomer pad 10 within the pocket or receptacle 6, however, forsmaller children, who play with relatively soft balls, one-half tothree-quarter inches of elastomer sponge padding will sufi'ice to retardor reduce the impact of a blow on critical parts of the body. However,such thickness may be used as to perform the necessary protectivefunction for the particular application for which it is to be used.

It is preferable to have the corners of the pockets 6 boxed, asindicated at 14, so that the elastomer sponge pad 10 will fit on allsides. The stitching 12 also forms a box padded portion 16.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in someparticularity as being for the chest area of a T- shirt, it is to beunderstood that the boxed pocket or receptacle with the necked-in upperportion may be applied to other garments or other portions of a shirt,as the particular game requirements indicate or the needs of aparticular player may indicate.

The protection provided by the present device is so simple to make andto use that the use thereof could find ready use in all sports of acharacter in which the chest and abdomen area is subject to injury.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention what is claimed asnew and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A protective garment for athletes and the like comprising:

(a) a shirt-like garment of conventional type,

(b) a fabric portion superposed on the inside of the front of saidgarment, stitching securing the sides and the bottom of said fabricportion to said garment to form a pocket-like receptacle,

(0) said superposed fabric portion having stitching at the top portionthereof securing it to the shirt-like garment for a portion of the widththereof in such manner as to form a necked-in portion at the top of saidreceptacle,

(d) an inverted, T-shaped, deformable, elastomer,

sponge-like pad complementally fitted in said pocket-like receptacle andbeing held in place by the necked-in portion formed by the stitchingacross a portion of the top of said pocket-like receptacle.

2. A protective garment for athletes and the like comprising:

(a) a T-shirt like garment for covering the greater portion of thetorso,

(b) a sheet of fabric superposed on the inside of the front of saidgarment and stitching securing the sides and bottom of said superposedfabric sheet to said garment to form a boxed, pocket-like receptacle,

(1) said boxed, pocket-like receptacle having stitching across a portionof the top securing it to said garment and so arranged as to form arectangle at each upper side of said pocket so as to form a necked-inmediate portion of lesser width than the width of the main portion ofthe receptacle,

(0) an inverted, T-shaped, resilient, deformable pad of sponge-likeelastomer material complementally fitted in said boxed, pocket-likereceptacle, with the lower portion of the pad of greater Width than thenecked-in portion of the pocket-like receptacle,

(1) said pad having a necked-in portion which extends upward throughsaid open, necked-in portion of said pocket-like receptacle, and

(2) said pad being removably held in place by said stitching which formssaid necked-in top portion of said pocket-like receptacle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS812,612 Swantees Feb. 13, 1906 1,777,878 Evans Oct. 7, 1930 2,249,966Matthews July 22, 1941 2,468,841 Siegel May 3, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS1,129,431 Germany May 17, 1962

1. A PROTECTIVE GARMENT FOR ATHLETES AND THE LIKE COMPRISING: (A) ASHIRT-LIKE GARMENT OF CONVENTIONAL TYPE, (B) A FABRIC PORTION SUPERPOSEDON THE INSIDE OF THE FRONT OF SAID GARMENT, STITCHING SECURING THE SIDESAND THE BOTTOM OF SAID FABRIC PORTION TO SAID GARMENT TO FORM APOCKET-LIKE RECEPTACLE, (C) SAID SUPERPOSED FABRIC PORTION HAVINGSTITCHING AT THE TOP PORTION THEREOF SECURING IT TO THE SHIRT-LIKEGARMENT FOR A PORTION OF THE WIDTH THEREOF IN SUCH MANNER AS TO FORM A"NECKED-IN" PORTION AT THE TOP OF SAID RECEPTACLE, (D) AN INVERTED,T-SHAPED, DEFORMABLE, ELASTOMER, SPONGE-LIKE PAD COMPLEMENTALLY FITTEDIN SAID POCKET-LIKE RECEPTACLE AND BEING HELD IN PLACE BY THE"NECKED-IN" PORTION FORMED BY THE STITCHING ACROSS A PORTION OF THE TOPOF SAID POCKET-LIKE RECEPTACLE.